Updated 12/24 at 11:14 a.m. — NWS Warns that high winds gusting up to 25 mph on Tuesday may bring more power outages.
An Ice Storm Warning issued by the National Weather Service that was extended twice has been lifted as a nasty weather front that brought up to a half inch of ice accumulation to Lincoln County finally moves out.
The warning was replaced with a Special Weather Statement with a headline that warns, “Ice will continue to be a problem through the Holiday.”
According to the bulletin, issued at 7:04 p.m. on Monday, “Dangerous conditions are likely to exist right through the Holiday as temperatures are expected to remain below freezing with the wind expected to pick up. This will continue to result in falling branches and even whole trees… As well as chunks of ice falling off buildings and power lines.”
The NWS warns that, “power outages are likely to continue”, adding that high temps are forecast to stay well below the freeze mark through December 25.
The Ice Storm Warning went into effect Saturday and was originally scheduled to end Monday at 7 a.m., but that deadline was changed to noon and then to 7 p.m. on Monday as the slow moving storm spread a coating of ice over the area during a 43 hour period.
Power outages came is two waves. The first was on Sunday when 1047 Lincoln County homes lost power, with power restored to all but 44 residences by nightfall, according to CMP. The second wave of power outages came on Monday, with over 5000 households without power by the afternoon, according to CMP. Power had been restored to 1454 households by 7 p.m., according to CMP, with 3564 remaining without power.
Aside from the power outages and a number of minor vehicle accidents, no major incidents were reported during the ice storm, according to the Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency. However, sections of Routes 126, 32 and 215 in Jefferson didn’t get sanded after one of the state sand trucks broke down, leading to dangerous conditions, according to Jefferson Fire Dept. Chief Walter Morris.
“It was a good couple hours before they could get anything else over there, so it was a sheet of ice,” Morris said. Cars were “sliding all over the place” and getting stuck, Morris said, but no serious injuries were reported. Jefferson Fire and Rescue ended up shutting down Rt. 126 near the intersection with Rt. 215 because of dangerous conditions, Morris said.
The Lincoln County News will continue to follow the progress of this event and post any additional information here as soon as it is obtained.
